IF YOU live in the US, you don鈥檛 need to be told what Viagra is. The rest of
the world, which lacks fast-track mechanisms for drug approval, will have to
wait a while for this remarkable new treatment for impotence鈥攐r 鈥渆rectile
dysfunction鈥� as the drug鈥檚 manufacturer, Pfizer, calls it.
Viagra has stirred up a storm, with thousands of men who are impotent, partly
impotent, or perhaps just worried about their sexual performance, wanting to try
the new pill. Demand is so high that health insurance companies are beginning to
worry whether they can afford all the new cases of 鈥渋mpotence鈥�. Where does
clinical impotence end and unsatisfactory sex begin? It鈥檚 a fair debate but it鈥檚
getting a lot more attention than another of even bigger importance.
In the US, most health insurance does not cover contraceptive drugs and
devices. Currently 57 per cent of all pregnancies in the US are unintended, and
half of these will end in abortion. Affordable contraceptive drugs could make a
big difference.
Advertisement
Legislation has been under way to force changes in insurance since last year.
If there is an issue really in need of a fast track, surely this is it.